1. Field
The subject invention is in the fields of skin conditioning methods and apparatus. Specifically, it is in the field of chilling skin for shaving purposes while simultaneously applying shaving gel. For purposes of this disclosure the term gel is to be recognized to mean foam, lather, cream or any other substance used to prepare skin to be shaven.
2. Prior art
There is much prior art in these fields. Skin conditioning, for purposes of this disclosure, includes methods and apparatus for applying shaving creams and the like and apparatus for chilling the skin to be shaved. The U.S. patents listed below provide a sample of the patented prior art.
______________________________________ 1,270,635* 3,339,278 1,882,370* 3,756,105 2,472,385* 3,768,485 2,749,613 4,813,136 2,787,621* 4,819,330 2,929,374 4,845,846 5,103,560 ______________________________________
The asterisked patents illustrate a variety of hollow, cylindrical rollers, each mounted on a handle or handles and filled or fillable with liquids, solutions or gels, all for the purpose of providing cooled or heated rollers to be applied to skin areas for a variety of purposes, including (1) massaging and (2) astringing an area of skin. None of these apparatuses are used to apply any substance or the like to the skin. The liquids, solutions and gels are used in the rollers to increase the cooling capacity, (i.e. heat removing capability) relative to the volume of the roller.
U. S. Pat. No. 5,103,560 describes apparatus which can be described as a handle for a safety razor, the handle incorporating cavities and mechanisms which enable dispensing shaving lotion and water, in individually controlled amounts, onto the skin to be shaved by the razor. The apparatus includes a plurality of balls which rotate in sockets when contacting the skin and carry water on their surfaces for disposition of the water on the skin. There are no provisions made in this apparatus which increase its heat capacity for purposes of warming or chilling skin. On the other hand, if the apparatus is chilled to below freezing, it is rendered inoperative.
It has been found in the development of the subject invention that the amount of gel applied to the skin while shaving is highly important to achieving high quality shaving results. It has also been found that adequate chilling of the skin is essential to achieving optimum results and that the manner in which the gel is applied is important to achieving optimum results. It is a great advantage if the gel is thoroughly chilled prior to application so that its application complements the chilling provided by the skin contacting components of the implement. Accordingly, it is important that the amount of gel applied and the amount of chilling be independent of each other to a considerable degree.
In spite of the profusion and diversity of the prior art, there are many people who are not able to shave comfortably and to their satisfaction in terms of appearance, freedom from bristly texture (i.e. smoothness) and the duration of satisfactory appearance and smoothness if achieved. Such people often have a combination of soft, tender skin and strong or strong and curly hair growing from the tender skin. Accordingly, the primary objective of the subject invention is to provide skin chilling apparatus which helps provide comfortable, smooth, long lasting shaving results, particularly for people who have tender skin and tough or tough and curly hair and those who desire particularly smooth feeling skin after shaving for cosmetic purposes. Further objectives are that (1) the apparatus have sufficient heat capacity to allow a complete shave without requiring rechilling of the chilling apparatus, (2) the apparatus dispenses shaving gel onto the skin to be shaved and (3) the amount of chilling and the amount of gel dispensed be independent of each other. Another objective is that the time required for chilling be minimized.